Material Objects as Facilitating Environments: The Palestinian Diaspora

This article focuses on the significance of material objects for Palestinians in diaspora in terms of their collective identity and memory. The loss of the real places of memory necessitates the creation of material representations to restore bonds to a homeland and in retaining cultural identity. This study illustrates how objects as symbols of a person's collective group (“objects of legacy”) help with the creation of a sheltering and nurturing environment, what British psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott calls a “facilitating environment.” It also highlights the materiality of objects and argues that their meaning and their capacity to prevent failing memory and sustain a collective identity are generated by their material characteristics and not solely by their social value.